𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋 | 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲

𝟎𝟓. 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐲

"So your friends range from stuck-up billionaires to—"

"Look," Steve interrupted, almost as if warning her. "We're not going to discuss my choice of friends. What we are going to do is find you a change of clothes, find a place to stay, and get cracking on an antidote."

"I thought you said we weren't going to steal," Crystal snidely reminded him.

"Use the card," Steve instructed and quickly added before he could be interrupted, "I'll pay him back later."

Crystal grinned. "Alright then, off we go."

As soon as she'd been given permission to enter a store, she didn't hesitate to leave the crowd. It was almost as if she'd been waiting the entire time, like she knew Steve would eventually give in. Time flew and the afternoon breezed by as the girl browsed through several shops. Steve couldn't help but smile as the small slice of life that he normally wouldn't get to experience. It was clear that the girl didn't have that privilege either. She was shy at first, but after the third store, she stepped out of her shell and grew excited at the prospect of owning something to call her own.

She bounced on her toes as she pulled items from the racks here and there, always looking toward Steve for an opinion. For the first time since they had met, there was no discussion of secret agencies or bizarre science experiments, nor were there any height puns. Instead, it was meaningless conversation of how this top matched those shoes or a fit of giggles over something small and silly. The girl was genuinely enjoying herself as her smile beamed brighter than he'd ever seen. The warmth her smile brought reminded him of rare moments from his own childhood when his mother would dote on him. They didn't have much, but that never stopped her from trying.

Crystal stepped out of the dressing room, modeling her latest assortment of clothing jumbled together to form an outfit. It was the third outfit she'd shown, but the pride in her eyes matched her runway walk from the first two. She struck a pose and flashed a charismatic smile, exhibiting her first signs of actually living life like a child.

Steve's fond smile didn't go unnoticed. The girl gently giggled and took a seat on the ground beside the stood on which he sat. She tilted her head with curiosity and questioned his expression. "What?"

"It's nothing." Steve quickly shook his head, clearing away the nostalgia. He hesitated to ask his next series of questions for fear of changing to mood. "It's just... you didn't have much of a childhood, did you?"

She gently shrugged, but it was clear she was uncomfortable with the topic as she rubbed her shoulders. "Unless you considered being poked and prodded with sticks a childhood."

"You were raised in a lab?" Steve asked reflecting on his own experience as an experiment. At least he'd had the choice.

She nodded, a bit slower than before. "I can't say there was much of a difference from my earlier youth compared to my time at S.H.I.E.L.D."

Her statement was concerning, which Steve failed to hide from his face. He proceeded to ask, "How long have you worked for S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"You mean belonged to?" Crystal corrected with a hint of hostility. "Since I was ten."

Steve winced at her tone and hesitantly asked, "Why didn't you ever leave before now? You've clearly been capable of doing so all this time."

"Where exactly would I go?" Crystal asked quietly. She answered her own question before actually giving Steve a chance. "And don't suggest trying to find a family or any of that mush. I served my time in the system and came to the same conclusion as all the other runaways: people don't actually accept you if you're different or broken."